Building Regs/No Planning On extension..

jules1213

BUying house that had dround floor chimney breast removed over 40years ago - no record of building cert - council are now aware of the wor and fact no building cert was ever obtained!

We have ee that the chimney os properly supported with RSJ.

ANd mortgage is with Nationwide!

But now as council are aware - will we need to still take out indemity insurance, as the fact that council are aware surely invalidates it.

I think it is crazy that their is not time limit for building regs cert in the same way their is for planning persmission - surely as long as the structure is confirmed safe - and why can't the council come and look at it now and certify if it is or not? It is a crazy catch 22 situation!

We may eventually take rest of chimeny out = then the whole issue is gone!

Doozergirl

jules, building regulations in their present format I don't think existed until something like 1985 - I doubt that a record would even be kept of something donw 40 years ago. If it is safe then (which it must be after 40 years) there is not a chance that building control would enforce. After 12 months, they lose their own enforcement powers and have to go to court.

Go to court over the removal of a chimney breast 40 years ago? Not a chance.

Richard_Webster

jules, building regulations in their present format I don't think existed until something like 1985 - I doubt that a record would even be kept of something donw 40 years ago. If it is safe then (which it must be after 40 years) there is not a chance that building control would enforce. After 12 months, they lose their own enforcement powers and have to go to court.

Go to court over the removal of a chimney breast 40 years ago? Not a chance.

This is the common sense approach, but a solicitor's problem is getting a mortgage lender to understand this and not make stupid requirements because their surveyor is afraid of getting sued.

If we approach a lender on a point like this they refer it to the surveyor and a few weeks later he comes back recommending you get a regularisation certificate. You then write back saying that these are not possible for 40 year old works and so it goes on wasting loads of time, getting every one worked up and nobody moving - so it is often easier to get an indemnity policy even though I agree the whole thing is silly!

If the Council have been approached and the policy is therefore not available it may be possible to get the Council to write saying they would not take enforcement action - that may be the only thing to do here.

tek-monkey

Richard_Webster wrote: »

If we approach a lender on a point like this they refer it tot he surveyor and a few weeks later he comes back recommending you get a regularisation certificate. You then write back saying that these are not possible for 40 yaer old works and so it goes on - so it is often easier to get an indemnity policy even though I agree the wholwhole thing is silly!

This is exactly what I'm going through, and its driving me insane. But because the vendor has asked about it, we now can't get indemnity, so I'm gonna lose the place and all the money so far spent. Seems absolutely ****** stupid for something thats been there for 33 years without issue, but the lender doesn't see it that way. Isn't there a period where the extension gets considered as part of the house or something?

jules1213

Thank you for your replies. Richard I will look into your suggestions with the solicitor and council.

Jules

tek-monkey

Not sure if this is of any use, but I'll post it in case someone finds this thread as I did and is stuck.

Yesterday I emailed a firm specialising in this sort of insurance, and they believe that because of the age of the property there are ways to get indemnity despite the relevant people being already contacted. I have no idea how true this is, but shall post up an more I find. The company is called Legal and Contingency, and I found them from this article:

http://www.conveyancingexplained.co.uk/buying-a-house-advice/indemnity-insurance-policy-%E2%80%93-do-you-need-it/

jules1213

Thank you tec monkey - that is a really useful website.

I am now really concerned about being able to get the indemity insurance (when the council are "on notice") and getting the mortgage ok'd.

Can I just say that this system stinks when it is being applied to work carried out years ago and when council's cannot provide a regulalisation certificate. I feel like I am in catch 22.

jules

tek-monkey

I feel exactly the same, they may as well be asking for a unicorn horn.

However, last night I decided I am not going to chase this any longer. I have spent over 2 months rushing about like an idiot, and its getting me down. I seem to be calling my solicitor, lender and the EA daily, trying to get things sorted out. I know that if I hadn't done so, I wouldn't even be at this stage yet, but I'm just too tired to carry on with it. So I passed the details over to my solicitor, and I'll wait til I lose my funding in 2 weeks.

Either way I'll keep you updated, should anything actually come of this.

jules1213

It does seem ridiculous. I can totally sympathise with your frustration - and hope your purchase does not fall through.

I have rang our council and they said because the work was carried out about 40 years ago, they are unable to take legal action against the owners of the property - it is statute barred. That is the legislation does not allow then to take action over work carried out so long ago.

As a result he confirmed that although the council had been informed they were not "on notice" for the work carried out withough building regs - and as such should not pose a problem in getting Indeminity Insurance. However, I fail to see the point of this insurance when the council cannot legally take action!

I don't know if that info is any help to you - as your work was done 33 years ago and should also be statute barred????????? If what I am led to beleive is correct.

Emailed solicitor who is out of the office to see what next stage is.

Jules

Milliewilly

I'd be interested to hear what you solicitor says - I had to get an indemnity insurance policy for the porch on my house as my solicitor at the time told me the council can come back at any time and to believe they can't after a period of many years is a red herring!

The Surveyor I referred to in my other post also brought this up on his survey even though I showed him the indemnity successor policy - he made no mention of having read that in his survey report :mad: